Unattended beacon



Jan. 29, 1929. 1,700,226

F. R. HOUSE UNATTENDED BEACON Filed July 5., 1926 J/ 'ATORNEY 7 omini-fon Fily d, Sesia?. Tie. 323,334;

` `ion ieie'fes to unebiended hee.- -iuiiinioii iiiins i i which is pivoed 5 i ihs which wie to ope. hoiizonizii exis hie search-iight drinn i2.

e sie euiomeeiceiiv oven exi'eended ipeiiod iihin the heise i@ there nifiy he piovided Wiisiiou" red ii'ingbshe etteniion of ein pei'ee. inooi loden ioieiing seid seeiehiigh';

` i ois oulfpose these is usiieiiy einin eziiiiiiii ihnougii suitable geziiing "i6-i7.

L,Jed e. ioinifeiity of souices of .einea sueh The sesichiigh 4inegi veoinpiise the ususi is espeeisiiy designed l endescene ieinps, diiiin nei/ing iieiehohc deiieczoif oi one seid iz-.nfiios being; *'eczive Whiie J@he oiniiei' iight piojeci'aing ineens fees oi'iheis ae ine'ecsiie. is one o Ehe oh heeo provided with e soui'ce of iigh'; jeeis of my invention 63ojoiovide siinpie hui"l et che Yifociis o sain 'leieooi in einen 'ico effective ineens neqiiiifing no attention end @est e heziin foifwssdiy. ehe piesen; iiiso noi; gein out of oidei' Wheiehy e. see- Yveniion the seid soiii^ce ofi iight may he en ond ie? o is moved into effective position incendesceiiiJ ieinp A oi- B, the iiieineni oiQ when the dess imno ifeiis. This invention which is ediiped io he positioned in e -ocus 15 hhus cons'sitiiees en iniiooveinent ove;m che o" said niiiroi. Since she beacon is designed oinis of automatic Mini-J coniiroi mechanism io he un ien'ded by en opeetoW piovide diseiosed the copending `epjiieesion of 'bhe foiiowing noifei ineens wheiehy when 'Adhesion Besseii7 Seiei No. @46,65% hied ieinpis iienieni iieiis the othei lamp Wiii he June 2G, i922. euioiiieiieeiiy moved no -ocsi position 2'@ *it is e uishei oogec'; my innen-'cion izo +he iisi: ieinp iiioved ouo seid position.

pifovide in conneciion `with the above nien- For this puipose ii piovide in the present ease 7o honed novei eutoin'scie .ieinp positioning en osciiie'zoiy platform 25 pivoied on e .supineens esoeoisiiy edepied b5/ipe o heiinopoire 26 he ioini oi' ups'tsnding hifziiche; sizi Eon conhioiiing seid mechanism. K ixed to ine duin. The seid @ietf-omi 25 25 Fuiihei obje-cts and advantages o ihis inhe povided with preferebiy *two opstanding Venion wiii become eppmeni in "ehe oiiowlugs 2( Wheiehy seid. platform is pivoted iip- 75 Fig. i is s iiion ,View oi@ e. veiticei section Q8 is shown :is located pziieiiei 'izo hut heiow 3o teken '-hioiigh :i iype of hinp embodying oil iojoirie side otiieinzigoi oi' optmicei' mais what now considei1 io he *the pieieined ioiin ihe diiini und `Lhe ienips eziend upwei'diy so oi my invention. w across di'iin. l oncoii 3G ig Q. is en enieiged View of iiie ininp meehinoiinied et one enden the iixed Dieefu 261 anis ii of u l. 6@und connected es iiieii ohei ends fio the ings 35 Fig.. 3 is ewii'ing diegisin oii nijyinilenion. 227 noiinaliy Thies Jhe platform one di is u veificiii seczionihiough e. conti'o ection "co' 'tend io Ting hiscesei Jone 85 ehepgneos'ei. hiinp B in oozii position. The device is omg w 5 is e ventisei seccion ithiough the Toh/ inziiiy seta however., with "che isnip le; in ioeei ,fooii oix he imei; mechanism. posiiioni the pieftioiin heing osciiiaied fon ing; io the drawings, Y. have shown e this purpose against ehe actiony of spiiings 3Q y'oe of eiiioine'ic sesichiighi; oin hencon io Wind up seid spi-ings. ri`he platform is 90 adapted ioeicticuieiiiy foi guiding aircraft heid in @iis Ttiosiiion Wiih ienip A ,in focei oi/ei iendoi Weines." night oi" in fog. Such posiiion hy inegi-ns oiCv .any suitehie tiiggeif dee heeoonl heilig pieced usually -in isoieted vice., egeins; aceioii oi? said springs!A 3 6. posiibions nius'; ice capehie of opeie'iiion Wishf E pnovideinelins whereby upon mii; ouiJ Jihe eiiendence oa' en opeisoio in unis une oi ip .A he @niggeij Wiii he `eiezisee 95 iosiieiiisi" form, Jdie ism@ compiises e heise fio pemui Spiring's 301i@ oscilla@ piatiorin 25 i0 iinon which is mounted for rotation about through e smeii angie 1end in e. direction "co e Veiaicei exis e support comprising ai pain of bring ieinp B inte eidective oeai posiion.

lll

i For this purpose ll :may employ a, coil in circuit with a controlling thermostat shown in le" ig. d, said thermostat being adapted to close the circuit through coil 35 when lamp A tails. 'lhe aforesaid trigger device includes coil 35 which is in the form ol a solenoid, the armature' ot Which is normally maintained outwardly, i. e., to the lett in Fig. 2 by a spring (not shown). Said armature at its end bears againsty a pin 'Z0 cX- tending laterally from a lug 7l on base 25, thus holding the platform in the position shown in full lines. lll/hen, however, the solenoid is energized, it draws inwardly the armature 35 thus releasing the pin and permitting the platform to be oscillated by the springs 30 as described. Said thermostat may comprise two insulated contact strips S-S carrying contacts C-C normally spaced trom each other to torna a predetermined gap, @ne ot the thermostat strips, such as S", may be surrounded by a heating 4 coil in parallel With the main circuit which supplies `current to' the lamps. 'lhe other ot said strips S is so positioned that the heat rays .rom the lamp in ed'ective position .passes through a Window 36 in the 'thermostat casing 37 to strike upon said Contact strip S but not upon the contact strip S.

When the main supply line is closed and lamp A. is set in focal position, coil lt will i immediately begin to heat up to supply heat to contact strip S', While lamp A will begin to heat up to supply heat to contact strip S. llhen both contact strips are thus being heated they are designed to curve in similar directions and have the same final dedections, thus maintaining the gap betvveen contacts C and C. l/Vhen the lamp A tails, however, heat is no longer supplied to contact strip S vvhile coil llt continues to supply heat to contact strip S. lhe contact strip S will then cool oil and straighten, causing contacts C-C to engage and close the circuit through coil 35 to release the trigger and permit springs 30 to swing platform 25 in a direction to render lamp B eilective. Suitable stops not shown may be provided tor stopping the platform 25 when the respective lamps .el-B reach the local position For establishing the circuit through lamp B when the latter has been moved to local position, platform 25 may carry a resiliently pressed contact l0 adapted to engage with a yielding' contact al carried by the bracket 26, the latter being in the main supply circuit as shown in lig. 3, "When the lamp B is nioved to tocal position, any suitable signal may be energized tor the purpose ot indicating that one of the lamps is burned out. ln the present case l may utilize the engagenient ot contact d() With contact al for closingothe circuit through a signal lamp 50 which may be positioned preferably on the outside top of the searchlight drum.

Lacasse As hereinbetore described, the thermostatic element S is in the direct path ot the rays from the reflecting means, and is positioned to intercept the rays along the focal axis. Advantage is taken of this fact to provide a means tor properly locating the lilament ot' the lamp at the focus. For this purpose an aperture ll may be formed in the thermostatic element S in the focal axis and s'aid aperture is carried completely through the thermostatic element so that by looking therethrough the lamp -may be properly adjusted with its iilainent in the focal axis. This adjustment may be made by means ot a plurality of screws tSO-GOQ/preferably three extending through auxiliary 'platiorms lil-6l", each supporting one of the incandescent lamps A-B, said auxiliary platforms being resiliently connected to the main platform 25 by means such as springs (i2-62. By this means a very accurate adjustment of the lilanient in the focal axis ot the redecting means may be obtained.

ln accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, l have herein described the principle and operation oit my invention, together with the apparatus which l now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but l desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, While it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some oi these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends 'to such use.

Having described my invention, what ,l claim and desire Patent is:

l. ln a beacon, a plurality or" lamps, one ot said lamps being in eli'ective position, means normally Atending to move said ellec- 'tive lamp to inellective position and said ineillective lamp to etl'ective position, locking means tor holding said ellective lamp in the edective position and means including a compensated thermostat whereby said lirst means is released by the radiant energy transmitted by the lamp in e'ective position.

2. ln a beacon, a plurality or' electric lamps, one of said lamps being in elleetive position, means for moving said eliective lamp to ineffective position and said inetlective lamp to eliective position, and means whereby said lirst means is controlled by the rays transmitted by the lamp in effective position, said last named means including a thermostat having two normally spaced Contact members controlling said rst-named means, means for heating one ot said members by the supply current, and means whereby the other of said members is exposed to the rays :trom the lamp in effective position whereby when said rays to secure by Letters iso l 4 moose@ said lamps for holding thein 'side by side one lamp in the center ofthe drum, and means across the drum, means for mounting said responsive to :failure of said lamp for oscillatsupport for oscillation about an axis lying ing said support to bring the other light in. l0'

between and adjacent the base of said lamps the center of the drum.

and extending at an angle to the common lnestinoony whereof` ll have affixed my plane of said lamps. means for maintaining signature. said support normally. in a position to locate 'FRANK R. HUSE. 

